Falling down the rabbit hole
by Bubblesandspice
Summary: Amelia and Owen fluff following 12x08.
1. Chapter 1

"I shouldn't be doing this."

Amelia Shepherd muttered darkly whilst staring at the cold clear liquid in her glass. She'd only taken a couple of sips but she could feel the sickeningly familiar burn in her throat. She wanted to feel numb. She needed to feel numb. She couldn't deal with pain and betrayal. Derek was dead. Meredith hated her. Owen refused to speak to her. She couldn't go back and she had no idea how to go forward. Yet again, her world had crumbed around her and she was going with it.

"Shouldn't be doing what? Speaking to me? I get that a lot. Let me guess, you're a friend of Owen's as well?"

Amelia looked up at the foreign doctor, registering for the first time he was there. Anyone could have bought her that drink. It hadn't really mattered. But Riggs was there and she was still curious about him at least. She studied his face carefully, eyes wandering over the lines on his face and his icy blue eyes, looking for a clue. He didn't look like he could be fundamentally evil. He just looked tired, like someone who had seen and hurt a lot more than he should have. Amelia could understand that.

"Yes. No. I don't know. It's complicated. But no. It's not that."

"When isn't it complicated?"

Riggs sighed.

Amelia picked up her glass and took a deeper gulp. So, maybe she was flirting with going down the rabbit hole again but what did it really matter? She might as well be there. She had nowhere else to be.

"So, what is the deal with you and Owen?"

"You don't know?"

"Nope. No one does. Well, you do, and Owen does and Meredith Grey does. But she won't tell me. Despite everything. Despite absolutely everything we've all been through, she won't tell me. And he won't tell me. So that only really leaves you to ask."

"Are Hunt and Grey, you know, a thing?"

Riggs couldn't know that he'd just made Amelia's heart wrench at the reminder than Owen had chosen to trust Meredith over her. She had thought her and Owen had been good, really good, the best they'd been for a long time. She was obviously a fool.

"God no. Meredith is, I mean was, married to my brother."

"What happened?"

"He died."

There was a brief silence between the two as Riggs looked down intently into his whisky.

"Oh. I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"Thanks. So what happened between you and Owen?"

Riggs hesitated again, looking with intent at the pretty brunette.

"I…you know…I think you should ask him. It's not so much my story to tell."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah. Go talk to him. I tell you what, go talk to him now."

Amelia looked at Riggs like he'd just gone crazy but was surprised to see the earnestness on his face. He picked up her coat from the seat between them and proffered it toward her. She had no idea what was going on? But maybe he had a point. Maybe she shouldn't give up on Owen. She still had some fight left. She was down but she wasn't out.

"Thank you."

She put on her coat and chucked a few dollars on the bar to cover her soda water. She smiled at the new doctor.

"You know I'll be pissed off if I'm wrong but you don't seem to be all bad."

The smile was returned.

"Oh don't count me out yet. Go talk to Hunt."

After Bailey had chewed him out, Owen Hunt had sat in his truck for quite a long time just staring out the windscreen. He had been getting everything so wrong but Riggs just took him back to somewhere he didn't want to go to. Somewhere he wasn't sure if he could get back from.

He eventually started the truck and headed for his trailer, hoping the peace and solitude would help his anger and pain.

Owen hopped out of his truck, glancing at the big empty house that Meredith and Derek had lived in. It was sad to see it that way but he understand why she had to leave. He may not have always seen eye to eye with Meredith Grey but he did admire her, she was definitely tough.

Approaching his trailer, he could see that someone was curled up on the deck chair on the porch. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled, he was concerned it was a bum looking for trouble. A few steps closer and he saw the dark brunette curls falling over a pretty face with closed eyes. Amelia.

Owen's heart somersaulted. He knew that he shouldn't have shouted at her earlier but equally he couldn't tell her about it. Not now. Not yet. But she was here. She hadn't been scared. She hadn't run. And that to him said a lot.

He approached her slowly and could hear her soft breathing. Kneeling down next to her, he slipped his arms around her small frame and lifted her into his arms. She snuck her arms around his neck and nuzzled her head into his chest as she slowly woke up.

"Hey."

Owen dropped a soft kiss into her hair, smelling her vanilla shampoo.

"Hey yourself."

He unlocked the door and carried her inside before putting her down on his bed. She looked up at him with her big baby blues as he pulled off his shoes.

"You okay?"

Owen's heart dropped as he contemplated where this conversation could go.

"Amelia, I…I'm sorry about earlier…But…"

"You don't want to talk about it. Okay. I get it. Well. I don't get it. But okay. But I at least get to be there for you. I'm sure that was the deal, right? Along with the talking and the kissing, right?"

The small brunette edged toward the door with some uncertainty as Owen stopped still in the room. Amelia had no idea where her speech had come from. She couldn't take the rejection. She should just go.

She had only taken half a step more before she felt his hand on her arms, spinning her around.

Owen's mouth crashed into hers as he pulled her closer. His tongue begged for entry as he tangled his hands in her hair. Amelia was lost in his heat and passion as she ran her hands up his firm biceps and cupped his face, gently stroking the day's stubble with her thumbs.

They were lost that way for minutes, absorbed in each other's bodies when Amelia dropped her hands to Owen's waist and hastily pulled out the tucked in button up. She was satisfied to hear his groan and her fingers ran over the heated skin of his back. She gently nipped on his bottom lip as her hands descended to his belt.

She was shocked as Owen abruptly pushed her back and captured her wrists in his hands. Amelia couldn't see his eyes as he look down at her wrists. His voice came out gruffer than normal.

"Before we do anymore of the kissing, and don't get me wrong, I like the kissing, I think we need to do some talking. I need to do some talking."

Owen looked at Amelia who stared back at him with her big baby blues and lips bruised from his kissing. It was a face he could imagine looking at for the rest of his life and he didn't want to mess this up. Not now. Not after everything.

"Okay."

Her voice was quiet, as if she was worried about scaring him off.

Owen pulled her with him to his bed and sat against the pillows with Amelia in his arms. He could get used to this, having her there, having someone who would always be there for him. He liked that idea. But first he needed to do this.

"I wasn't an only child. I had a sister, Sarah. I wish you could meet her, she was smart and funny, and brave and stubborn. I think you would have liked each other…"


	2. Chapter 2

Owen Hunt woke slowly from a peaceful slumber and enjoyed satisfying ache in his muscles. After the talking, there had been more kissing with Amelia, a lot more kissing. They had lost themselves in each other's bodies before falling into a deep and satisfying sleep.

He wrapped his arm more tightly around the sleight frame of the pretty doctor as she slept, her head burrowed into the crook of his neck. With his left hand, he gently traced the outline of her cheek, across her graceful neck and down the smooth skin of her shoulder. He wanted to commit her to memory. He wanted to commit the moment to memory. He wanted it to be a moment that would never end.

Owen felt a soft kiss pressed to his chest before big blue eyes peeped out at him from under messed up chestnut curls.

His hand went up to smooth those chestnut curls as Amelia pushed herself up to place another kiss on his lips.

Owen responded by pulling her closer and claiming her lips as his own. There had been times when Owen had been frustrated by Amelia Shepherd, there had been times when she had hurt him but lying there together, tangled in his sheets and surrounded by the peace of the forest, he felt calm and he felt whole, and he really wanted to hold on to that feeling.

"Hey."

His morning voice was gruff but gentle and Amelia smiled. She was used to men that she loved disappearing on her, dying on her but Owen was there, and he was tough. With everything that he had been through, he should have crumbled by now. He should have disappeared. But he was still here. And she was there with him. So maybe this time, she could let herself have some hope of a happily ever after? Maybe just a little.

"Hi."

She smiled again as he broke into a grin. It looked so carefree and boyish after all the scowling she had seen him doing recently.

"So, as you know I have some time off for good behavior. Is there any chance I could interest you in having breakfast with me? We could drop by your place if you need to change?"

Your place. Her place. It struck Amelia like a thunderbolt as she thought about the argument she'd had with Meredith. She didn't have a place. What was she going to do?

"Amelia?"

Concern had clouded his eyes, washing away the fleeting moment of carefree joy. It stung Amelia more than she expected. She wanted him to be happy. She liked it when he was happy. But how could she explain what had happened? Did she even really understand what had happened herself?

"I…erm…I don't really know how to explain."

The small brunette pushed herself up so she was sitting cross legged and looking at him. She twisted her hands together as she tried to compose some words that made sense.

The ex-army surgeon sat upright and stared at her in confusion.

"Just talk to me. Please."

"I…Meredith and I…We had a fight. It was…It is complicated. She threw me out of her house. I'm not really sure if I have 'a place' anymore. I should really do something about that."

"Stay here."

The words hung between them for a few frozen moments.

"The fight was about you. About why she wouldn't tell me what was going on with you. And it was about Christina. And Derek."

"Stay here."

"I hated that you talked to her and not to me."

Owen shifted toward the pretty brunette and captured her lips in a bruising kiss.

"I'm sorry about that. I just didn't know where to start. I don't want you to see me broken. With you, I want to be whole. I want you to fall in love with me for what I can be now, not what I've been before."

"Bit late for that."

"For what?"

His blue eyes looked at her with angst.

"For how you want me to fall in love with you. I'm already there."

The boyish grin returned.

"Really?"

Amelia clambered onto his lap and pulled herself up to his eye level. His hands went to her waist to steady her.

"Yes. And I'm terrified. So don't push me away again, ever. Please."

"Okay."

He gently kissed her nose and the small brunette laughed. It was a sound that filled Owen Hunt's heart with warmth.

"Maybe you should talk to Meredith?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. Not yet. I can't yet."

"Then stay here."

"Okay. Do we need to move out of this bed?"

Owen Hunt chuckled as he pulled Amelia close and threw them back on the bed. His kisses were hungry but slow, like he knew he had all the time in the world.

"Not yet."


End file.
